Royal Challengers Bangalore star Virat Kohli lands in Bengaluru ahead of IPL 2023

Former Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Virat Kohli is all set to join the franchise's camp ahead of IPL 2023.

The right-handed batter will be pumped ahead of the 16th season of the cash-rich league as RCB chase their inaugural title. He has been in magnificent form over the last few matches for the Indian team, hitting ODI centuries against Sri Lanka, followed by a drought-breaking Test hundred against Australia at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

The former Indian captain is also the highest run-getter in the tournament's history with 6624 runs in 223 matches at 36.19 with five centuries, with four of them coming in the 2016 edition when he hammered a record 973 runs.

However, Kohli had an underwhelming season last year as he managed only 341 runs in 16 matches at 22.73 with two fifties.

The Delhi-born cricketer scored his best of 73 against the Gujarat Titans when the Royal Challengers had to chase down 169 and did so in 18.4 overs with eight wickets to spare. He will aim for an improved outing in this year's competition.

"There's still a lot of room to get to my best" - Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli. (Image Credits: Twitter)

Speaking in a video posted by the franchise's official Twitter handle, Kohli harked back to his struggles last year and how he put them behind by stepping away from the game.

While the veteran batter feels he has rediscovered his touch, there's still plenty of room for improvement. He said:

"It was just about rediscovering the love for the game. That could happen when I stepped away from what was happening on the field for so long. I was trying to find ways when I was exhausted. I needed to connect myself as a human first, not judge myself constantly or keep myself under scrutiny all the time. Staying away from the game helped me.

"The results followed. I was able to play well in T20Is, ODIs, and recently in the Test series as well. I'm back to playing the way I do, there's still a lot of room to get to my best, which hopefully, happens in the IPL if I get to the level I really want to play. That would help the team."

RCB will open their 2023 campaign against the Mumbai Indians in Bengaluru on April 2. Faf du Plessis will return to lead the RCB this season.